Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-08-11
.ET1ERs FROM HOME

Family correspondence an Indication ~
Well As Builder or Personal Charac-
ter.
The beauty and worth of letters be-
ween those who have left home and
those who remain are connected with
sentiments that no one can appreciate
who has not sent and received these
letters. They are tie of affection, or
rather an evidence of some tie, peculiar
to people of refinement and of emo
tional strength and persistence. The
practice is not found among people Of
low Instincts, for they are not capable
of getting out of 1t the help and the
enjoyment that are so profitable to peO-
pie of keener sensibilitieA The bond
between parent and child is easily SOW
cred and neglected by them, and at an
early age the child shifts for himself
before he has gathered the idea of his
dependence on parents that children
have in more advanced stages of living
who require many years of parental
support and counsel and encourage
ment in order that they may be fitted
to carry on work and perform duties of
a more difficult and noble character.
Home letter writing is an indication
as well as a builder of personal char
acter. The boy leaves home to battle
his way in life, perhaps, or to prepare
himself in education for doing so, and.
if he be not of ignoble blood, he writes
weekly letter TO his mother. He
confides in her his hopes. his pros
poets, his reverses and his successes;
his letter is diary of things done and
thought of doing, of fears and conf
dence, of sorrow and joy, of ventures
made, of steps lost and won.
A mother. only a mother can reply
to such letters Her sympathy, adj
v1ce. and se1f-sacrifice, and heartfelt
concern are all truly feminine and
motherly. Her tender heart responds
to her boys trust and condolences,
like an Eolian harp to the wind.
The son can not but be better and
stronger for the letters to his mother
and from her; he can not but feel that
he has acquitted himself more capably
and honorably, that he has been more
loyal to duty and rectitude, more faith
full to work undertaken and to men
with whom he has been brought in as
ISOLATION.
Daughters. nowadays, go away from
home to earn a living in the three
hundred and more occupations that
are open to women, and we may be
sure that they keep up a correspond
ence with those at home-with mother.
sister or brother. Girls, of course,
are to be depended upon to do the
proper thing in this respect We
know of girl who has lived away
from home for seven years and who
has never failed to write a weekly let
ter to her mother, and, it may be added.
the mother has also written one in re-
turn every week.
But when the daughter is married
and has the care of household and
children, and probably a good deal of
work to do-what thenP There may
be those who are constant, regular and
frequent in their letter writing to those
who lived with them in the old home;
but can they be expected to do as well
as they did before marriageP Too
often, however, they not only follow
the old injunction and cleave to the
husband, which, of course, is as it
should be. but they sever themselves
almost entirely from the old home and
its former inmates. 1t is easy to see
how this happens, taking place as it
does, gradually, and while cares absorb
the thought and attention and while
new attachments are building up and
a new home. The result
is to be expected to a considerable ex-
tent, but it seems too bad that it should
be as extreme as it often is. The
young woman. though a wife, may be
more truly daughter and sister, and
the young man may be more truly
son and brother, than they often are
after leaving home, and letter writing
is one of the best ways of showing it.
The connection between those at
home and those who have departed is
living force in character, in duty done,
in the greenness of affection, in mutual
help and in self help. They are the
refuge of homesickness and the solace !
of the distant parent; they strengthen
the child for trials and they sustain the |
parent in loneliness. Truly the fam
lies can be recognized that maintain |
letter writing with those who have de-
parted into the walks of life-tney can /
be recognized by their paternal, their
flial and their fraternal affections, by |
their mutual responsiveness and assist.
Housekeeping.